Research suggests that social support moderates or "buffers" the impact of stress on the individual and thus indirectly affects emotional well-being (Cohen and Wills, 1985). The present study sought to extend the "buffering hypothesis" to competitive sport by examining the influence of perceived coach support on competitive state anxiety among young athletes (N = 270). Results from confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) substantiated the validity of the sport-modified Social Provisions Scale (Russell and Cutrona, 1984;Ryska and Yin, 1994). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed a significant support-anxiety effect in the high trait-anxious model only (r = -.27, p < .05). The present results suggest that perceived coach support represents an important mediating factor in the sport stress process among highly anxious athletes.A recent proliferation of social psychology research has investigated the role of social support in reducing ill-health effects due to life stress. Studies conclude that individuals who receive high levels of social support tend to suffer fewer negative health consequences following stressful events than those receiving less support (Dean and Lin, 1977;Davis-Sacks et al., 1985). However, social support has minimal impact on an individual's physical or psychological status in the absence of life stress (Argyle and Little, 1972;Cassel, 1974). This "buffering effect" of social support has been demonstrated in a variety of contexts such as life crises (Lepore et al., 1991), unemployment and job stress (Gore, 1978;Richman, and Rosenfeld, 1987), physical and mental illness (Hammer, 1981;Leavy, 1983), and transitional to parenthood (Cutrona, 1984).Although the mechanisms underlying the support-stress relationship have not been clearly identified, Taylor's (1985) cognitive adaptation model provides a possible explanation of the stress-buffering role of social support. In order to cope with threatening events, an individual must arrive at a personal meaning of the event, regain control over themselves, and maintain an adequate level of self-esteem. Although social support plays an integral role in each of these cognitive processes for threatened individuals, it has less impact for those individuals who do not perceive their environment as particularly stressful.For most young athletes, competitive sport represents an enjoyable process of self-discovery. It is common for young sport participants to develop positive goal-oriented behavior and self-confidence as they strive to improve their sport ability.